The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd Bonus "A Message For All Self Proclaimed Recovery Housing Experts"The #RecoveryFirst Podcast with Mike Todd Bonus "A Message For All Self Proclaimed Recovery Housing Experts"
The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast by Freedom Recovery Services of Greenville
Mike Todd shares a candid reflection on recovery housing, challenging self-proclaimed experts and highlighting the need for oversight, medically assisted treatment, and genuine operator input in South Carolina. The episode questions stigma and calls recovery housing operators to speak up in policy discussions affecting their work.
11:33•25 Jul 2021
Who Gets to Be an Expert in Recovery Housing?
Episode Overview
- Recovery housing grew from organic, community-based support long before it became an industry.
- There is currently no formal oversight or certification process for recovery houses, which can lead to exploitation of vulnerable residents.
- A proposed voluntary certification bill in South Carolina would require certified houses to work with medically assisted treatment when receiving certain referrals.
- Mike Todd argues that real expertise in recovery housing comes from lived and worked experience, not committee roles or personal tragedy alone.
- Recovery housing operators are urged to speak up and get involved in policy discussions so decisions are not made about them without their input.
“What makes you an expert is lived and worked experience in running a recovery house, day in and day out.”
Host Mike Todd shares how recovery housing grew from grassroots efforts decades ago, when people in meetings simply rallied around someone who was homeless: “They all got together and they said, well, you know, these guys over here have a bed or a room or whatever that he can rent.” From that kind of community care, a full-blown industry has grown – but, as Mike stresses, it’s an industry “that has no oversight, that has no certifications process.” The episode focuses on the situation in South Carolina, where a proposed voluntary certification process for recovery houses is on the table.
What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol and then build housing to support others on that path? This bonus episode of The Recovery First Addiction Recovery Podcast zeroes in on recovery housing and the heated debates swirling around who gets to call themselves an “expert”.
Mike highlights worries about exploitation of a “very vulnerable population” and raises hard questions about stigma and discrimination when decisions and bills are drawn up “without us in the room.” You’ll hear blunt, unfiltered reflections on what real expertise looks like.
Mike makes it clear: “What makes you an expert is lived and worked experience… day in and day out.” He calls out self-proclaimed experts who have never run a recovery house, while encouraging genuine operators to speak up about the realities they face, from 3 a.m. crisis calls to attending funerals after overdoses.
If you’re involved in recovery housing, policy, or advocacy – or you’re just curious how housing and treatment intersect – this episode gives a candid look at why operator voices matter, why medically assisted treatment needs to be part of the conversation, and why silence from those on the front line can have real consequences. It’s a nudge to ask yourself: whose voice is shaping recovery housing where you live?
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